Atumi made me do it. -- The Middle of Nowhere

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Date Posted: 00:19:03 12/21/02 Sat
Author: Korats
Subject: Atumi made me do it.

Atumi snarled as one of the more arrogant pack members -a black female- got too close to his snout with her gold tailblade. She'd been doing that, taunting the pack second, for weeks now. As had others in the pack.

Tew watched, perched in a tree. Even the easy-going tan had his ears flat and pearly teeth bared in a grimace. Bright-furred, lean, and inconceivably fast, Tew was also pack-second, though usually thought to be of slightly lesser rank than Atumi. But now, his robin's-egg-blue eyes were narrowed, almost cold, and his copper tailblade flicked, clinking liquidly against the stony bark of the tree.

Shula growled in his throat, warning the femme, Seja, off. Atumi was already stretched to the breaking point with insubordinate, arrogant students who paid no attention and seemed to be just within the hard-to-kill mark. For that matter, the big red was testy enough with these insolent Korats.

Seja sauntered off, a smug grin on her muzzle. Atumi snarled, ebon fur bristling, and rose from his crouch. I'll kill her, Shula. None of these are worth Chitter droppings.

Shula shook his heavy skull, ears permanently canted backwards. You will not, Atumi. I'll dismiss the whole pack soon. But not yet. It is winter, and the hunting is thin.

The black spat disgustedly. I care not for their lives. Rid me of them or I will do so myself.

...days later...

Seja nicked Atumi's haunch with her blade, smirking as he spun and snarled. "Give me a break, 'Too-mee, big master Shoo-luh won't let you do anything," she sneered comtemptuously. Shula had most of the pack on a hunt at that moment, but Tew was watching from high in the trees.

"By the Phoenix, I will have your soul." Seja laughed at his venomous threat and turned her back. Atumi's teal eyes began to glow, and he struck - his pale grey blade plunged between the femme's shoulder blades, snapping her spine and impaling her heart in the same vicious, effortless blow. The few Korats left in the clearing shot to their paws, shock plain on their muzzles. A red male lunged, foolishly thinking to take revenge for his sister's sudden death.

Atumi's tail withdrew from Seja's lifeless body and whipped out to completely decapitate the red, his body otherwise motionless. A tan's admittedly speedy attack was dodged with one leap, then the black spun and channeled his energy through his lithe body. A blast of raw, white-hot power surged forth and seared the tan into ashes. Thus three of the thirty-four strong pack died at Atumi's will.

When Shula returned, he was not happy.

...days later...

Red and black stood nose-to-nose, ears flat and growls rumbling in thickly coiled throats. The remainder of the Atumi-ravaged pack, now numbering fifteen, gathered around the pack leader and 'second silently, well out of range of the enranged black. Tew perched in a tree high above, bright blue eyes watchful, somehow hiding his vibrantly-furred self in the thick shadows swathing the broad tree limbs. It had come down to a challenge, at last. Shula opined that the deaths of so many of their packmates had taught those left the lesson needed. Atumi wanted them all either gone or dead by his will.

Atumi's teal orbs began to glow, emitting a soft radiation of blue-tinged light, an unusual sight that most likely stemmed from his extensive knowledge of life-force energy. Shula's mahogany eyes narrowed, no longer reluctant to take his friend on in a serious fight. It had come to this and he would finish it. For all his years and skill, Atumi had never before bested the young red.

It was not for victory that Atumi fought. It wasn't even to get his point across, or to have his preference implemented. It was not to gain leadership, for the black well knew his own fallacies in that area. It wasn't even to achieve 'permission' to kill or drive off the rest of the pack.

It was to vent his anger in the only way he could - by throwing himself and all his power at the one Korat who could handle it.

Atumi struck at the close range, muzzle-to-muzzle, tailblade slashing towards Shula's torso. The big red parried with his ebony tailblade, and the two commenced a bout of bladeplay too fast to be seen even with a trained eye, though Tew high above could track the motions. But that didn't release the black's anger quickly enough, and he lunged. Black jaws latched onto ruddy throat, black claws riddled ruddy fur with vicious slices, grey claws lacerated black pelt, and ruddy jaws locked onto a black skull. Pressure is applied in all placed, nearly scalping Atumi before he ducks away and nearly chopping Shula's neck in half. The two go at it again... and again... and again.

By the time it's over, Shula and Atumi are crumpled in healing trances, both bordering the edges of death. Tew drops from his branch and stalks stiff-leggedly around the circle of terrified pack members, ears flat.

"Begone with you. You have caused this. Leave, and never return."

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